Fuzz plugins?

[jmm22]

Thanks for the replies. Gentleman, please don't quarrel. It's all too easy to misread, misinterpret, or misspeak in forums, and we're all here for the pleasure of engaging with our fellow musicians or music manipulators of one kind or another. Having said that I must confess to having been in arguments in other forums, but I regret much of it and try my hardest to maintain good will in forums these days. :- )

Will study all the excellent replies and check out all suggestions.

[whyterabbyt]

hey, shyterabbit, cool it down, bugger.

hey stinkray, next time try doing some of the basics before you drool the same question you've just had answered.

nobody forced you to reply, in the first place.

nobody forced you to be a moron, but you're managing just fine.

[acousticglue]

I'm gonna internet mess somebody up if this doesn't stop. And I'm old and just had all my teeth pulled. Don't make me text this again

[minkray]

I'm gonna internet mess somebody up if this doesn't stop. And I'm old and just had all my teeth pulled. Don't make me text this again

me and shyterabbit have certainly felt the heat.

attaboys from this moment on. irony. real scouts promise.

[Unaspected]

[jamcat]

I like the Kuassa Efektor fuzz as well as the audiority plugins.

Helix native has some great ones if my HX FX hardware is anything to go by, but not the cheapest option!

I don't know of any digital fuzz face that can recreate the volume-knob interaction, unfortunately.

So, that includes Line 6 Helix?
It doesn't respond dynamically to the guitar's volume knob?

[CapnLockheed]

hey, shyterabbit, cool it down, bugger.

hey stinkray, next time try doing some of the basics before you drool the same question you've just had answered.

nobody forced you to reply, in the first place.

nobody forced you to be a moron, but you're managing just fine.

Well put Rabbite! That's what you get for trying to help an idiot that's been a member for scarcely more than a month. "Shyterabbit & Stinkray" That could be bigger than Ren & Stimpy LMFAO!!

[The Noodlist]

Try a search.
search.php?search_id=egosearch#kvrsearchresults
https://vst4free.com/search?term=fuzz

[imrae]

I don't know of any digital fuzz face that can recreate the volume-knob interaction, unfortunately.

Both AmpliTube models do. The Red "Fuzz Age" is a germanium Fuzz Face, and the silver "Fuzz Age 2" is a silicon Fuzz Face, probably modeled on the JHF1 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face.

And there's another 5 fuzz pedals in AmpliTube, plus a Big Muff Pi which oddly they don't categorize as a fuzz, for a total of 8 fuzz pedals. All 8 react dynamically to the guitar's volume knob the way a fuzz pedal should.

I'm not sure you quite understand the challenge here. Volume knobs affect a traditional fuzz pedal in two ways: changing the signal level (i.e. gain-staging) and changing the presented impedance (i.e. modifying the tonal behaviour of the input section). Most decent digital models can handle the gain-staging part just fine, so they will clean up if you play quietly - regardless of whether that is achieved by picking gently, turning down the volume knob or turning down some other trim stage in-between the guitar and plugin.

I've just had a play with a few different fuzz pedals I own:

• Fredric Effects Unpleasant Companion - based on the Companion fuzz which is somewhat related to a superfuzz
• Woolly Mammoth DIY clone - the closest to a fuzz face
• Devi Ever Hyperion - low tech, high gain
• Fredric Effects Green Russian - High-quality Russian Big Muff clone

The Woolly Mammoth and Unpleasant Companion are both very sensitive to the volume control. When I back off the volume by about a 1/8th turn the input volume only drops slightly but the tone drastically cleans up and the frequencies rebalance a bit. I cannot reproduce this effect by varying the picking intensity; it is clearly related to the impedance. On the Hyperion I think this effect is somewhat present in the top-end, but it is a lot more subtle. On the Green Russian I am not convinced it makes a significant difference; it seems to be entirely level-driven.

The HX Effects (i.e. Helix) fuzzes do not reproduce this, and I do not recall that Amplitube does either. (I am not on the right machine right now to double-check.) I don't see how they possibly could; this information about impedance has been carefully "lost" by the DI/ADC stage, with a minimal impact on the frequency content (if well-designed). In order for a plugin to give access to the whole range of sounds available by varying pickup choice, picking dynamics and volume settings, it needs to present an additional user option to set the modelled output impedance.

[Clearscreen]

I've been having fun introducing DC offsets to a clean guitar signal as a weird fuzz in Bitwig. And using bitcrushers and gates to square wave a signal is fun, but generally not very 'touch sensitive'.

[kidslow]

In order for a plugin to give access to the whole range of sounds available by varying pickup choice, picking dynamics and volume settings, it needs to present an additional user option to set the modelled output impedance.

Is that what United Plugins DIFIX is trying to solve? I'm not entirely clear on what it is meant to do.

As the OP is asking for free, in addition to Analog Obsession already mentioned there is TSE R47 which is a Proco RAT modelled plugin. Technically both are donationware.

For very little money at present, on sale, Audiority and Kuassa offerings are solid and Fuse Audio VPB Bundle is probably the best deal dollar for dollar for modelled pedals at the moment at less than $2/ea.

IMHO suggesting Amplitube is thoughtless. OP didn't ask for an ecosystem that will require downloading everything on offer by the vendor, whether you want it on your system or not, which is beyond obnoxious despite repeated loud complaints from customers. Previous point about smaller developers being more responsive and larger corporate developers being tone deaf to customer feedback is spot on. IK is too marketing driven to the detriment of their customers. End of story.

[jmm22]

Gentlemen, it seems I am more at fault for the imbroglio than anyone imagines, because I in fact have Amplitube, well, sort of.

You see I bought an AXE I/O + Amplitube 5 Max bundle just a short time ago. The AXE arrived, but A5 hadn't been released yet. I received A4 in the meantime, but I've barely used the Amplitube since I was waiting for the release of 5 before really digging in. To complicate matters, A5 has now been released, but I just discovered IK Multimedia made a mistake on my order and I have only A5 SE (instead of A5 Max) ready for download in the 'My Products' page. I've reached out to IK Multimedia customer service about the discrepancy and I'm waiting for a reply. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

I've since tried the fuzz in Amplitube 4, but I'm uncertain whether one can use it alone, i.e., without using one of Amplitube's amps simultaneously. This is where a stand alone fuzz might make more sense if I want to run it on one of my amp's direct, e.g., my THR100HD. In any event, I downloaded a few of the suggestions, namely Distorque Audio Face Bender, Audiority Big Goat and Blue face, and KUASSA Efecktor FZ3603. I believe two of these are trial versions with an audio watermark, but they'll be just fine for me to test.

[andrelafosse]

I've since tried the fuzz in Amplitube 4, but I'm uncertain whether one can use it alone, i.e., without using one of Amplitube's amps simultaneously.

You can indeed! Each "stage" (amp, pedals, cab, effects rack, etc) in A4 has a power button in the upper right-hand corner. Turning that off disables that particular aspect. I've used A4 strictly for fuzz tones, and bypassed the other parts of it, many a time.

[jamcat]

IMHO suggesting Amplitube is thoughtless. OP didn't ask for an ecosystem that will require downloading everything on offer by the vendor, whether you want it on your system or not, which is beyond obnoxious despite repeated loud complaints from customers. Previous point about smaller developers being more responsive and larger corporate developers being tone deaf to customer feedback is spot on. IK is too marketing driven to the detriment of their customers. End of story.

You seem to not understand how AmpliTube works. It is one plugin. You can buy just a single fuzz pedal in the Custom Shop for $10. How is that a worse suggestion than u-he Runciter that isn't even a fuzz pedal and comes in a 149€ bundle of 9 plugins? Oh, it's because one is IK and the other is u-he and this is KVR...

[jmm22]

Cool. Thanks. I'll be running many tests in the next short while comparing fuzzes.